A mum-of-three endured "five months of hell' after social services bosses unlawfully restricted the level of contact she could have with her children.

The woman, who can only be referred to as LC, is calling for Cumbria County Council to make changes to the way it deals with similar cases after claiming the ordeal had caused her and her family extreme distress and suffering.

Local authority chiefs have now apologised for mistakes in the way they dealt with the case.

The mother, from Cumbria, has a history of mental health problems.

But psychiatry experts said she posed only a low risk to both herself and her children following a deterioration in her condition in September 2016.

Despite this, social workers decided a month later that LC should only have contact with two of her children under the supervision of her ex-husband.

As her third child was in hospital at the time, she was also only permitted to visit in communal areas, with the restrictions continuing until further reassessments were undertaken.

Social workers also failed to properly consider evidence from the pyschiatric expert on the low level of risk, nor did they commission their own evaluations.

Despite LC disputing the restrictions on several occasions, they remained in place until February 2017 when her case was heard in a family court and they were removed.

LC said: "While I am happy the council has finally admitted it was wrong and has apologised, the truth is that the restrictions placed on my contact with my children meant I experienced five months of absolute hell.

“It was incredibly difficult to take and the delay in applying to the family court meant there was no way for me to challenge what had been decided by the council.

“The whole ordeal was a nightmare, and while nothing can change what I went through, I hope the council learns the relevant lessons from this horrible experience, to try to ensure that no other parent faces the same situation.

"No council should be able to separate a parent from their child in this way ever again."

Specialist public law and human rights lawyers from the egal firm Irwin Mitchell subsequently began an investigation into the decision by Cumbria County Council to restrict the mother's access to her own children.

They successfully argued in court that the council's actions had breached their client's human rights.

The council has since admitted that children’s services should not have advised that the woman's contact with her children had to be supervised, and that there was a delay in bringing her case to court.

Stephen Cardinal, associate solicitor at Irwin Mitchell, said: "This was a hugely worrying situation where we believe that the council’s behaviour has significantly infringed on the human rights of our client.

"In our view, the decision to delay issuing care proceedings meant our client was simply unable to have her voice heard during this emotional situation.

“This whole experience led LC to suffer extreme distress and upset and affected her relationship with her children. It is simply unacceptable and we are delighted she has now had an apology from the council.”

A spokesman for Cumbria County Council said: "We have apologised to LC for how this matter was handled, it was not good enough.

"We have since improved how we respond to situations like these."